WILDFIRES:
New entrants face challenges such as a shortage of design skills, lack of expertise to certify seaplanes and significant funding requirements
Reuters, TOULOUSE, France
Add TT as Preferred Source
Deep inside the carcass of a disused turboprop aircraft, engineer Jonathan Beck squeezes between rows of tanks as he demonstrates how his French start-up plans to challenge aging Canadair water-bombers in combatting European wildfires.From the birthplace of Concorde to the laptops of a retired general in southern France or an architect in Belgium, designs for new or converted water-bombers have gained momentum after nearly 500,000 hectares burned across Europe this year.A parliamentary panel last year warned that France’s existing fleet of aerial firefighters faced a “major crisis” and called for European alternatives to the rugged water-scooping Canadairs, which have dominated the market for decades.
